Union Home Minister Amit Shah is closely monitoring the situation in Manipur and is in constant touch with top functionaries of the Central agencies and State administration.
On Friday, Shah held a review meeting through video conference with Manipur with Chief Minister N Biren Singh and top officials, even as the Centre dispatched additional security forces and anti-riot vehicles to maintain peace on the ground. Around 1,000 more Central paramilitary personnel with anti-riot vehicles reached Manipur on Friday, sources said. Article 355 of the Constitution has not been invoked in Manipur. Under the provision, the central Government can handle the law and order machinery of a State, they said
Shah, who is staying put here, is also taking regular inputs from security and intelligence agencies about the Manipur situation, which remained peaceful but tense on Friday.
Meanwhile, at least five Deputy Inspector General (DIG) rank officers and seven Senior Superintendents of Police (SSP) and SP-rank officers of the CRPF have been tasked with coordinating the deployment of various security forces in violence-hit Manipur, sources said.
The Centre has also rushed in about 20 fresh companies of paramilitary or the Central Armed Police Forces (CAPFs), including the CRPF and the BSF to the violence-hit State.
Induction of the CAPF units apart from that of the Army columns and the Assam Rifles is going on. Some of these senior officers are being rushed in from Delhi and Ranchi, the sources said. Clashes broke out in Manipur on Wednesday and intensified overnight with counter-attacks being mounted by rival communities in retaliation to earlier attacks after Naga and Kuki tribals organised a ‘Tribal Solidarity March’ to protest moves to give scheduled tribe status to the Metei community.
On Thursday, the State Government issued a shoot-at-sight order in “extreme cases” to contain the spiralling violence which has displaced over 9,000 people from their villages.